Analyzing Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) & Public Storage (NYSE:PSA)

Public Storage (NYSE:PSA) and Global Self Storage (NASDAQ:SELF) are both real estate companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their analyst recommendations, risk, earnings, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation and profitability.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent recommendations and price targets for Public Storage and Global Self Storage, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Public Storage	0	14	7	0	2.33
Global Self Storage	0	0	1	0	3.00

Public Storage currently has a consensus target price of $326.16, suggesting a potential upside of 3.99%. Given Public Storage’s higher probable upside, equities research analysts plainly believe Public Storage is more favorable than Global Self Storage.

Dividends

Public Storage pays an annual dividend of $12.00 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.8%. Global Self Storage pays an annual dividend of $0.29 per share and has a dividend yield of 5.3%. Public Storage pays out 114.5% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Global Self Storage pays out 161.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

78.8% of Public Storage shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 28.9% of Global Self Storage shares are held by institutional investors. 11.1% of Public Storage shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 10.7% of Global Self Storage shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Public Storage and Global Self Storage”s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Public Storage	$4.82 billion	11.42	$1.78 billion	$10.48	29.93
Global Self Storage	$12.77 million	4.91	$2.04 million	$0.18	30.50

Public Storage has higher revenue and earnings than Global Self Storage. Public Storage is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Global Self Storage, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Public Storage and Global Self Storage’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Public Storage	41.80%	40.98%	10.19%
Global Self Storage	16.64%	4.57%	3.32%

Summary

Public Storage beats Global Self Storage on 12 of the 15 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Public Storage

Public Storage, a member of the S&P 500 and FT Global 500, is a REIT that primarily acquires, develops, owns, and operates self-storage facilities. At December 31, 2023, we had: (i) interests in 3,044 self-storage facilities located in 40 states with approximately 218 million net rentable square feet in the United States and (ii) a 35% common equity interest in Shurgard Self Storage Limited (Euronext Brussels: SHUR), which owned 275 self-storage facilities located in seven Western European nations with approximately 15 million net rentable square feet operated under the Shurgard brand. Our headquarters are located in Glendale, California.

About Global Self Storage

Global Self Storage is a self-administered and self-managed REIT that owns, operates, manages, acquires, and redevelops self-storage properties. The company's self-storage properties are designed to offer affordable, easily accessible and secure storage space for residential and commercial customers. Through its wholly owned subsidiaries, the company owns and/or manages 13 self-storage properties in Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Oklahoma.